


...And Morgan le Fay's Return

by angellwings



Series: ...And the Possibilities [1]
Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Adventure, Drama, F/M, Family, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, If I wrote season 2 this is what it would look like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3250637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angellwings/pseuds/angellwings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What awaited the L.I.T.s in Lima was not at all what they expected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Act One: Lima, Peru

**Author's Note:**

> So I started this idea and couldn't seem to stop, and now I'm falling head first into my own version of what season 2 should be. Or, you know, what the episodes that heavily feature Jake and Cassandra should be. Here's episode 1. Episode 2 is already in the works and I will be posting it as a series! Thanks to AponiTiva for proof reading this for me!  
> Enjoy!  
> angellwings

Morgan le Fay was in Lima, Peru.

That was the first thing Jake remembered when he came to. They’d been chasing after surges in Ley Lines, and as far as they figured they were chasing after an ancient artifact that had to do with the Incan Goddess of fertility, Pachamama. But when they’d reached the source of the surges they’d found Morgan le Fay and something that could only be referred to as apparition.

With one flick of her wrist Jake and Ezekiel had been flung against the furthest wall, and that’s when the world went black.

Cassie. What happened to Cassie?

“Come on, Stone, get up. We’ve got a big problem. A possibly apocalyptic one.”

He sat up with a groan and found Ezekiel standing over him. The room was lit up with a bright light but he couldn’t seem to focus on the source.

“What the hell is that? Where’s Cassie?”

“Mate, that _is_ Cassandra,” Ezekiel said worriedly.

He stood up and focused his eyes on the light and, sure enough, he could make out Cassandra’s red hair in the middle of it. He took a step to go after her but Ezekiel stopped him.

“Don’t. We don’t know what will happen if you do.”

“But Cassandra is—“

“You bitch!” A voice yelled from the left of the light.

He recognized that voice. Morgan le Fay.

“That _child_ has no right to the power you’ve just given her!”

“And you thought I would give it to _you_?”

The voice that came out of Cassandra’s mouth was definitely not her own. The light around her dimmed considerably and Jake could see that she was floating. Cassandra was floating in the middle of the room. The color in her blue eyes had vanished completely, leaving her eyes a blinding white. The sight left Jake with more fear than he’d ever felt in his life.

“You don’t have a choice!” Morgan yelled. “I didn’t come here for you to give it to me. I came here to take it! Do you think she can host your magic? She doesn’t even know the potential she holds! She’s barely aware of her capabilities. I hate to break it to you, sweetie, but if you plan on using her as a host _that one_ ’s defective!”

“ _This one_ is strong. You are weak. My hosts do not effect me, I affect them,” said the thing that was inside Cassandra.

“We gotta do something, Jones! That thing has Cassie!”

“Yeah, I’d love to help but I’ve got nothing. I’m a thief, not a…well I don’t know what could handle this,” he said as he watched the scene with wide eyes.

“Cassandra!” Jake yelled. “I know you gotta be in there, kid. Fight back!”

“Hush now,” the creature yelled as it turned Cassie’s eyes on him in a stern glare. “The child is safe. You do not need to worry.”

“Surprisingly not comforting!” Ezekiel yelled in return.

Morgan stomped like a petulant child and flicked her wrist at Jake and Ezekiel once again. Suddenly it felt as if a hand were on his throat, strangling him.

“Yes, Cassandra, let the power go. Or I’ll have a little fun with your friends here. Surely, you won’t let her get them killed,” Morgan said with a sickening grin. Jake could feel the blood leaving his face as his vision darkened around the edges.

“Enough!” Cassandra yelled. _That_ was Cassandra. His Cassandra. “What do you want?”

“Just _her_ ,” Morgan sneered. “You are insignificant and so are these two idiots. I just want _her_.”

“You’ll kill her,” Cassie stated.

“Well, of course I will, darling, but it’s either her or _them_ ,” Morgan said. She circled Cassandra as her feet landed on the floor of the Stone Temple. “Now, let her go. And I’ll let _them_ go.”

Cassandra glanced over at Jake and Ezekiel. She looked torn and sad and broken, but her eyes were blue again. He breathed a sigh of relief at that, at least.

“I—I can’t,” she stuttered as her eyes began to water.

“Choosing to save yourself over your friends again, are you? Can’t say I’m surprise after what I’ve heard from dear Dulaque—“

“No,” she said with a glare. “I _can’t_. I’m not holding her. _She’s holding me_.”

Her hands went to her temples and she winced in pain as she fell to the ground. Jake fought against the magic that was holding him, but it was no good. She turned those blue eyes to meet Jake’s and manage to speak through her tears, “I’m so sorry. I can’t fight her. I _can’t.”_ Cassandra went rigid all of a sudden and then slowly her body began to float again. The light returned to her eyes and softly encased her body.

“I _am_ sorry,” the strange voice said as it too apologized to Jake and Ezekiel. “I did not intend for anyone to be hurt. But the witch cannot obtain my power. She’ll let the world burn. You must understand. I have no choice.”

Blood dribbled from Cassandra’s nose and her hand reached up to wipe it away. “Poor child,” the voice said in a tone that was filled with despair. More despair than he ever thought a person could feel. But then he doubted the thing inside of her was a person. “Morgan le Fay, I leave with you with _one_ warning. Heed my words or pay the price when next we meet. _Do not kill The Librarians_. If I find they have been harmed your eternal life will come to a very sudden end.”

Morgan opened her mouth to protest but before she could utter a word Cassandra’s hand clapped over her head and there was a flash of light that lit up the entire room.

Then she was gone. _Cassandra_ was gone.

Morgan le Fay screamed in frustration and released Ezekiel and Jake. “I finally had the old girl cornered and then your little bimbo with the brain tumor had to ruin it all! _DAMN YOU, VIVIANE!_ You can’t hide from me forever!” She shouted at the ceiling. “When I find you, and I will find you, you _and the kid_ are dead! You hear me? You’re dead!”

Jake and Ezekiel scrambled to stand up as Morgan stormed toward them. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as Jake took a fighting stance.

“Please, you Barbarian, I could take you down with a wave of my pinky.”

“Where did that thing take Cassandra?” Ezekiel shouted.

Jake glared at Morgan le Fay. “You said Viviane.”

“That’s right, I did. Should I repeat it? Maybe slower this time?” Morgan asked with a quirked brow. She huffed. “And I have no idea where she took her. She could be anywhere. Your guess is as good as mine. Now, get out of my way. I don’t have time for amateurs,” she said dismissively as she pushed the two of them aside and walked calmly passed them.

“Y—you’re not going to kill us?” Ezekiel asked. Jake tossed him a silencing glare and Ezekiel shrugged in response.

Morgan smirked at him and tilted her head to the right. “Would you like me to? Because I could, you know, if you reall—“

“No, no. No need. Just checking,” Ezekiel said in a rush.

“If you hurt her,” Jake sneered at the Sorceress. “I swear to God—“

“You’ll what, exactly?” Morgan asked with a chuckle. “You can’t kill me, you can’t even touch me. You are weak. As for your little wannabe witch, you’d better hope you find her before I do. She’s the only thing stopping me from getting what I want. And I always get what I want.”

With that, Morgan le Fay turned on her heel and left them alone.

“Now what?” Ezekiel asked hopelessly. “How the hell are we going to track whatever the hell that thing—“

“That _thing_ was Viviane.”

“Yeah, okay, should I know who that is?”

“The Lady of the Lake, Jones. Viviane is the Lady of the Lake.”

“Right, okay, so how do we track the Lady of the Lake through Ley Lines without Cassandra? I don’t know about you but I can’t view multi-dimensional maps in my head like a certain synesthete we know and love.”

“We need Flynn. He and Jenkins could track her.”

“One week as independent Librarians and we’re already calling mommy and daddy,” Ezekiel said sarcastically. “We’re off to a great start.”

“Come on, we don’t have much time,” Jake said hurriedly. “Call Jenkins, find out where we need to meet The Door.”

“What are you gonna do?” Ezekiel asked as they left the temple and headed back to where they left their car.

“Research,” he said darkly. “Figure out how to separate Cassandra from the Lady of the Lake.”

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard the word research spoken like a death threat,” Ezekiel told him. “You’re downright scary sometimes, you know that?”

* * *

 

“What do you mean she _took_ Cassandra?” Flynn asked nearly an hour later when Ezekiel and Jake finally made it to The Annex.

“We mean, the Lady of the Lake parked herself in Cassandra’s body and then _vanished_ ,” Jake said angrily.

Jenkins ran a hand across his forehead. “She had no other options, Mr. Stone.”

“Yeah, neither did Cassandra,” Ezekiel said with a glare.

“Think about what she saw in Cassandra, though. Should Morgan le Fay get a hold of her, Viviane would surely die. Just because she’s a being of pure magic doesn’t mean she can’t die. She was desperate to live. Who else do we know that is desperate to live?” Jenkins asked them all pointedly.

“She picked Cassandra because she related to her,” Eve said with a slow nod. “She saw something in her that she thought was strong.”

“The desire to live,” Flynn agreed.

“Yeah, well, while the Lady of the Lake lives Cassandra’s trapped in her own mind,” Jake said with a tense jaw. She’s terrified of her own mind, was the sentence he didn’t say. But it hung in the air anyway. They all knew it was true.

“Jenkins, let’s get to work on tracing those Ley Lines,” Flynn said as he grabbed Cassandra’s cup of yellow markers off the main table and the satellite maps she’d been working with before they left. Jake swallowed thickly and wished she were here with them. The chair she normally sat in while she read or wrote in her notebook was empty but he could picture her sitting in it. Smiling to herself as she worked out yet another brilliant thing he didn’t understand.

“Stone,” Flynn said sympathetically. “Thumb through every Arthurian resource book we have. We need everything we have on Viviane.”

“Already on it,” Jake said as he held up the very old and thick book he held in his hands. _We’re coming, Cassie_ , he thought to himself as he thumbed through the index for any reference to the Lady of the Lake. 


	2. Act Two: Reinforcements

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this episode is going to include flashbacks at the top of every chapter. However, I don't plan on every episode to feature them. I needed to fill in some holes on this one and also had some separate one shot ideas that seemed to fit in well with this overall arc for this episode. Anyway, ENJOY!  
> angellwings

_It was nearly three in the morning when he finally returned from Paris. He’d gone to each and every place Mabel had a post card for. It had been emotional but in a good way. In an enlightening way. She’d lived a lot of years but done very little of what she’d wanted to do. He wondered if she would have preferred a short life with a wide range of experiences instead and immediately knew the answer._

_He closed the Back Door and turned to find Cassandra in her usual spot at the table, scribbling in her notebook with her red hair surrounding her like a silky curtain. He smiled softly at her. She was waiting on him. She didn’t normally stay up this late. He cleared his throat and she turned eagerly._

_“Oh, hi! How was Paris?” she asked._

_He furrowed his brow at her. He’d never told her where he was going. “How did you know that I—“_

_“It’s where she wanted to go. It seemed like the only place you could possibly be. Did it help?” she asked worriedly._

_He smiled sadly at her. “Yeah, it did. A little bit.”_

_“Good,” she said as she visibly relaxed. An awkward silence filled the space between them and Jake took the moment to take off his coat and gloves. He turned to hang his coat on the rack when she spoke softly. “I’m sorry.”_

_He hung up his coat and then turned back around to face her. “For what?”_

_“I should have seen it,” she told him. “I should have seen the math before—before we got everyone’s hopes up. Or…or I should have figured out a way to make it work. There must have been a way to ground it or something that I could have done to hold the system together long enough to—“_

_“No, Cassandra. Don’t do that to yourself. This isn’t your fault. This isn’t anyone’s fault.”_

_“I’m the one that did the math. If I would have just factored in a possible surge from the beginning—“_

_“Cassie,” he said sternly as he sat down next to her. “No one blames you. You know that, right? The timing just wasn’t right for it. The circumstances were against us.”_

_“But I—you trusted me to get it right. To help those people. It was so important to you and I let you down,” she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper._

_That’s what this was about. He should have known this would come up after the look she’d given him in the control room. But she couldn’t think that he would resent her for something she couldn’t control. Could she?_

_He shook his head at her and nudged her leg with his foot to get her to look up at him. “You didn’t let me down. Not by a long shot. You had my back out there. You believed that we could help them and you genuinely wanted to. You understood why I wanted to help so badly. I could tell you did.”_

_She bit her bottom lip and wordlessly nodded. He’d figure out what she’d pieced together about him later. He’d worked so hard to keep her at arm’s length. He focused so much on what he wasn’t saying to her that he never thought about what his actions may have expressed when he wasn’t trying._

_“And, the most important thing, Cassandra, you damn near succeeded. Not even Tesla himself got as close as you did to saving those people. You like to look at the glass half full, don’t you? Well, that’s the glass half full,” He told her. He hesitated before he continued but decided it was time. It was time to trust his instincts. “And you know, I think you and I are gonna be stronger friends for it.”_

_She smiled brightly at him. “Friends? We’re friends? You mean it?”_

_He smiled at her in return. He couldn’t help it. Her smile was contagious. “Yes, I do. It took me a while to come around, but after today…I think you deserve to be trusted. I think you’ve always deserved to be trusted.”_

_He thought her smile was bright before…boy, was he wrong. Her smile brightened about tenfold after that last sentence and he felt something in him clench._

* * *

His shoulder shook and Jake awoke with a start. He glanced down at the books spread out around him and then cursed, “shit.” He looked to his left and found Baird standing over him. “How long have I been out?”

“About half an hour,” she answered.

“Why didn’t you wake me? There’s no time to—“

“You said her name, Stone,” Eve interrupted him. He blinked at her and swallowed thickly.

“What?”

“Just now, when you were asleep, you said her name. Is there something you need to get off your chest, Jacob?” she asked in concern.

“No, no. It was just a dream. Or, well, more like a memory I guess,” he said as he ran a hand through his hair and searched for the notepad he’d been taking notes on.

“Stone, it’s okay if you care about her, you know,” Eve told him. She glanced to where Flynn and Jenkins were you arguing over the Ley Lines. “If it were Flynn who had the--” she paused and discretely tapped her temple. “--you know, it wouldn’t stop me. I would be scared to death, sure, but it would be worth it. Whatever time was left would be worth it.”

“I really can’t think about that right now, Baird,” Jake told her. “I can’t. Right now, I need all of my energy focused on finding her before Morgan le Fay because this discussion we’re having is completely moot unless we find her and save her.” He closed his eyes and sighed. “We have to find her. You should have seen her. White fire in her eyes and floating in the middle of the room and the one moment she broke through to take control…she spent apologizing. She could have said anything, but she apologized. Why the hell did she think she needed to apologize? It’s not like she gave permission to be worn like a suit—“

He paused mid-sentence and then groaned as if her were in pain.

“What?” Baird asked. 

“Unless,” he said as he remembered the tears in her eyes as she apologize to him. “Unless that’s exactly what she did. Dammit, Cassie. What the hell were you thinking?”

“She was thinking about saving a life, Stone,” Eve told him. “You know her. She’d do anything to save a life.”

“I know,” he agreed. “She thinks that tumor makes her life less valuable somehow, and it scares the hell out of me.”

“JENKINS, I COULD KISS YOU! You genius!” Flynn suddenly exclaimed as he grabbed Jenkins and kissed both of his cheeks. Jenkins shoved him away and brushed off the lapels of his jacket.

“Would you, please, restrain yourself. My god. I work with Neanderthals. Indiscrete Neanderthals,” Jenkins said with a glare and a huff.

“What is it?” Ezekiel asked as he came running down the stairs. “Did you find her?”

“Yes!” Flynn said excitedly. “And you will never believe where Viviane took her.”

He grinned at the rest of them for a long moment as they waited for him to continue. But he didn’t.

“Okay,” Eve said with an expectant look. “Do you plan on sharing this location with the rest of the class?”

“Oh! Right, sorry. Excalibur’s Stone.” 

“What?” Jake asked in shock. “You’re telling me that of all the places Cassandra could have ended up—" 

“She’s at the place that started it all, yes. That’s what I’m telling you.”

Baird turned an amused yet suspicious look on Jenkins. “These sort of coincidences just seem to happen around you, don’t they?”

“I have no idea what you’re referring to,” Jenkins said as he looked away from her. “This time, you’ll have a quicker way in. I can simply set the door for Cassandra’s location. I’m not sure what door you’ll go through but you won’t have to sneak in to Buckingham Palace again, there’s that at least.”

“Stone, what have you learned about Viviane?” Flynn asked.

“Not much, to be honest. The stories are all conflicting and she has about nine different names over time. None of the stories make her sound very stable, though.  Did you know she trapped Merlin in a tree like some crazy stalker?” Jake told them as he shook his head. “Not sure this is the mythological person we want living in Cassie’s head.”

“The names you’ve found are the names of her hosts through the years,” Jenkins offered. “She used to prefer water nymphs, that’s how she became known as The Lady of Lake. Some of them couldn’t take the amount of magic flowing through them. It did push Viviane to insanity more than once over the years.”

Stone gave Jenkins a curious look. If it wasn’t for the fact that Flynn needed Jenkins expertise on calculating the flow of the Ley Lines he would have wondered why Jenkins didn’t do the Arthurian research. Then again, given who he really was he probably didn’t need to actually _do_ any research.

“The host thing is what worries me,” Baird said with a furrowed brow.

“She wouldn’t pick Cassie to be her host, though. Not with the brain grape. I mean if I were going to pick a host I’d pick one who didn’t have any life threatening illnesses,” Ezekiel said thoughtfully.

Jenkins shook his head. “Viviane is a being composed entirely of raw magic. Physical afflictions wouldn’t bother her.”

Flynn gave Jenkins a sidelong glance and his eyes widened. He pressed his lips together and looked as if he was contemplating saying something before he shook his head and remained silent. 

“Are we ready?” Jenkins asked as he spun the globe and found the location they needed.

Jake rubbed the back of his neck nervously and tried to shrug off the feeling of dread in his stomach. “As we’ll ever be,” he replied.

“Good luck,” Jenkins told them. “Do bring Ms. Cillian back in one piece. She makes having all of you here nearly bearable.”

Jake gave Jenkins a half smile and nodded. That was probably the nicest thing they would ever hear Jenkins say.

They opened the doors and rushed through into a blinding light. Jake and Ezekiel recognized it right away. They were in the right place for sure.


	3. Act Three: Choices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go for this episode! The next episode will have 2 short chapters and three long chapters. I'm going to format them like episodes in the future: cold open, act 1, act 2, act 3, tag. So the short chapters will obviously be the cold open and the tag. Anyway, enjoy this one!

_She scrunched her nose up as she examined the multi-dimensional map floating in front of her. The map was out of focus, though. She couldn’t tell if it was the brain grape, her own lack of focus, or if the Ley Lines were simply vibrating. That happened sometimes. It amazed her that magic was a moving and flowing thing, like a river or a stream. She swiped her hand across the map and rotated it. Maybe it was her angle and not the lines that were out of focus._

_Suddenly a notebook was slammed down on the table in front of her. Her focus shifted and the map vanished. Her shoulders sagged and she turned to her intruder with a glare. She knew who it was before she saw him. She smelled summer._

_“Jake! I almost had it figured out!”_

_“What is this?” He asked as placed a hand on top of the notebook he’d thrown down onto the table._

_“Well, for starters, it’s mine,” she said as she spotted the flower stickers on the front of it. “And private_,”

_“Not my fault someone slipped it into my pile of art portfolios,” he said with a shrug as he maintained his stern glare. “Tell me you’re not doing this.”_

_She looked away from him with a guilty expression. “Flynn said raw magic could heal me so I didn’t see the harm in using my days off to try and track some do—“_

_“Cassie, you’re gonna get yourself killed,” he said with a tired sigh._

_She chuckled bitterly. “I’m dead anyway. What does it matter?”_

_Jake froze and he looked as though she’d knocked the wind out of him. He removed his hand from the notebook and then took her hand in his. “It matters, Cassie. It absolutely matters. But this isn’t the way.”_

_“So, I’m just supposed to wait for a cure to find me then? Is that it?” She asked tersely. She tried to pull her hand out of his but he held it tighter._

_“No,” he said in a soft, firm tone. “That’s not what I—I didn’t mean—“ He stopped and huffed as he took a moment to search for his words. “Jesus, Cass,” he said as he ran his free hand across his brow. She’d seen him flustered before but this was different. He met her eyes after a moment and finally continued. “You’re not alone anymore. How do I get you to understand that you…you don’t have to do this by yourself. Not anymore. You need someone to watch your back. So just—just take someone with you next time.” He took a deep breath as if he were relieved to get that off of his chest and squeezed her hand gently before he spoke again. “Okay?”_

_She bit her bottom lip to keep from grinning at him. He was completely adorable when he fumbled over his words. Or when he was trying to protect her. Or just being there for her. Or pretty much just existing. Oh god, she had it bad. Really bad. But how could she not? He was far too caring for his own good, and for some reason he’d chosen to care about her. It amazed her every day. “Okay,” she replied as she squeezed his hand in return and smiled shyly at him._

_He didn’t let go of her hand or walk away. He looked her in the eyes and shook his head. “You scare the hell out of me sometimes, you know that?”_

_Well, now she felt guilty. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she looked away from him._

_“Don’t apologize,” he said as he bent his head down to force her to look at him again. He smiled softly at her. “Just do me a favor and try not to get yourself killed.”_

_She chuckled and nodded. “I will do my best.”_

_He hesitantly released her hand and crossed his arms over his chest with an easy smile. “That’s all I ask.”_

_She beamed back at him and breathed in the scent of summer._

_And oranges._

_And she felt…safe._

* * *

 

Cassandra took a deep gasping breath as she finally realized she had control of herself again. She glanced around the room frantically. _Look for clues, do the math, alert the others_. She could do this. She glanced around the room and realized it wasn’t a room at all. It was a cavern. A very familiar looking cavern.

She turned and gasped. The Stone. The stone where Excalibur died. Why had Viviane brought her here? The good thing was, she knew where she was. The bad thing was, she was underground and had no cell signal. 

Suddenly her vision went white and her head felt as if it were going to split in two. When she could see again she took in a sharp breath. There was a glowing glittery shape floating in front of her. Like stars in a galaxy, it was both cloudy and sparkly. It was beautiful. The stars took a vaguely feminine shape and Cassandra found she could just make out facial features.

“You left my friends behind,” Cassandra said worriedly. “With Morgan le Fay. She was threatening to kill them and you just—how do you know they’re not dead? How do you…”

“Morgan knows better than to disobey one of my orders.” The voice that spoke sounded like two voices in one, simultaneously low and high, bright and dark. It was like nothing she’d ever heard before.

“What do you want with me?”

“To help you, my dear. I believe we can help each other,” she said in a comforting voice. “You and I have the same need.”

“And what is that?” Cassie asked with a furrowed brow.

“We need to live on. To ensure a legacy,” Viviane said simply. “I have already begun to mend you just by being in your mind for a few moments.”

Cassandra froze and stared at the being. “You—you can heal me?”

“My dear, I am a creature of pure raw magic. I can do whatever I wish. After all, I created the sword that could have healed you. Of course, I can fix you,” she said with a chuckle.

A conversation she’d had with Jenkins came back to Cassandra in that moment and she stared at Viviane warily. “All magic has a—“

“—Cost, yes, this is true. Galeas taught you well. Most have no thought of the cost. They only care about their own wants and needs. But not you. Never you, you precious child.”

Was that affection in her voice? It was hard to tell.

“So, what is it? What’s the cost?” Cassandra asked nervously.

“You remain exactly as you are,” she said casually.

“But I thought you wanted to heal me?”

“You will be healed. Of the tumor,” Viviane explained. “But not your visions, or headaches, or seizures. Your life remains exactly as it is now, except you’ll have a chance at reaching old age. Of planning your future. Surely, you can see the merit in that exchange.”

“But you want something in return, don’t you? It’s not just about the cost of the magic itself. There’s a cost for you to provide it to me,” Cassandra said knowingly. She learned a long time ago that anything that sounded too good to be true probably was.

“I am dying. I have survived for thousands of years in my non-corporeal form, but this form is growing thinner every day. I need to pass on my power and my title before I waste away and Morgan le Fay absorbs what’s left,” she said urgently.

Cassie’s brow furrowed. “But I thought the point of this was to keep you alive? You needed my consent to…to… _use_ me. Wasn’t all of this so you could live?”

“No, dear, my death is certain. I cannot escape it. But my legacy can. My powers, my title. And I can control it. I can choose who receives it. If I don’t, then what’s left can be taken. Morgan hoped to catch me before I could choose.  She didn’t know that the choice had already been made.”

Cassie’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean? We just stumbled across you this morning.”

“You didn’t stumble across me by any means. I brought you here. Though, I had hoped you would be alone. I didn’t plan on your fellow Librarians being with you.  I’ve been aware of you for a while now, Cassandra. You have very little experience with magic. But your potential is unlimited. I could sense it. You have a natural ability, however, to use my magic that natural ability will not be enough.”

“Meaning?” Cassandra asked nervously.

“You’ll have to learn to control it. It will be painful. It will be frustrating. It will be terrifying. It won’t kill you, but until you learn to control it, it will _hurt_. And it may hurt others, however accidentally.”

She scoffed. “Doesn’t sound much different than my life now.”

Viviane chuckled. Or she did something similar to a chuckle. Cassandra couldn’t be clear on that. “I suppose not. There is one difference, though. Now, you carry a hope of a complete cure. You still believe there may come a day where you will not suffer nosebleeds and fainting spells or get lost in hallucinations. If you accept my magic, that day will never come. You will suffer with those things all your life. As time goes on you will be better prepared to handle them, but they will always be there.”

Cassandra closed her eyes and took a shaky breath. Okay, that wasn’t good news. To keep this magic from Morgan le Fay or, worse, The Serpent Brotherhood she would have to throw away the very dream that had kept her alive and kept her hoping most of her life. But, she’d diffuse the ticking time bomb growing in her brain. She could have the things other people dreamed about instead. She’d have more _time_ , and you couldn’t put a price on that. Especially considering _who_ she could have more time with.

Cassandra took two deep breaths and then faced Viviane. “Yes, I’ll do it.”

“You’re certain?” she asked. “You won’t be able to take it back.”

She nodded. “More time with my friends is worth headaches, hallucinations, and bloody noses. I’ll do it. Besides, I’m a Librarian, saving the world from the potential misuse of magic is _what we do_.”

Cassandra barely registered a loud noise from one of the chamber entrances but Viviane heard it. Her head whipped toward the direction it came from. “She’s here. We must hurry. Thank you, Cassandra. You are a credit to the Tree of Knowledge and the Library. Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she muttered just before her vision was flooded with white light.

The light cleared and Viviane was gone. But the room was far from empty. On one side of her stood Morgan le Fay with a look so murderous that Cassandra could feel her rage. On the other side of her were The Librarians and their Guardian. She smiled brightly at them. They came. They found her.

“I warned you,” Morgan sneered. “I warned I would kill you if I had to.”

Cassandra felt like she was vibrating. Like an electro-magnet or a capacitor. She could feel energy flowing just under her skin. Maybe that’s why she said what she did next, “Go ahead and try.”

Magic High. Yeah, she was totally blaming that one on a Magic High. Instead Morgan focused on her teammates.

“Who’s neck shall I break first, darling?” Morgan asked sweetly. “I’m leaning toward the Cowboy. If only because you seem so fond of him.” She lifted a hand and was poised to snap her fingers. Cassandra could see it now, magic. She could see it as colors. Like looking at a weather map, the colors seemed to indicate expertise. Though, what the color key was she had no idea. Morgan le Fay was covered in a black aura of magic. That couldn’t be good.

“NO!” Cassandra yelled as she lifted an open hand at The Sorceress. Morgan gasped and her body slammed against the furthest wall. She slumped on the floor like a rag doll. She was out cold. They couldn’t risk her coming to, though. Not here. She winced as her head throbbed in pain. She lifted her hand again and focused on where she wanted Morgan le Fay to end up. Far away from us, she thought as she swiped her hand to the side and Morgan vanished into thin air. She turned around to face her friends for the first time since they’d arrived and smiled brightly at them despite her headache.

“Hi guys!” she said as she felt something trickle from her nose. She lifted a hand to wipe it away and found blood on her fingertips. She smiled bitterly at the blood and the met Jake’s gaze. “Nothing ever changes.”

“Cassie?” He asked worriedly. Her headache finally got the best of her and left her feeling off balance and lightheaded. Her knees buckled, but as usual Stone was right there to catch her. She clutched his shoulders to try and hold herself up against him. He pulled back to look her in the eyes and she supposed he found what he was looking for because he held her tighter and buried his face in her hair. “Are you okay? What’s happening, sweetheart?”

She winced and hid her face in his chest as the headache intensified. Her head felt like it was being squeezed by a vice. She could feel consciousness slipping away from her.  She whimpered and whispered an answer as she went completely limp in his arms. He quickly adjusted so that he could lift her. He cradled her against his chest and then placed a quick kiss to her forehead.

He sighed and glanced up at the rest of the group.

“What did she say?” Flynn asked curiously.

“Magic,” Jake answered as he walked past them and headed back toward the Door. “She said magic.”


	4. Tag: Different

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Cassandra's choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter of this episode but not the last tale in the story. Thanks to Aponi-Tiva for proofing this whole thing for me. I also feel like I should use her words to describe this ending: "Weird ending for a story, great ending for an episode." So if it feels weird...think of it as an episode. Not a story.  
> Hope you like it!  
> Happy reading!  
> angellwings

_He woke up to faint frantic mumbling coming from the bed next to his. Jenkins had only gotten them one hotel room in Lima. Thankfully, it had two beds. Cassie took one and he and Jones fought over the other. Jake won and Jones left in a huff. “With all the nightlife out there it’s not like I would have actually used the bed anyway,” he muttered on his way out of the room earlier that night. He insisted he’d let Jake win the coin toss. He didn’t know how you could ‘let’ someone win something with fifty-fifty odds. So, Jones was off doing…whatever the hell he did when they weren’t working which meant the mumbling could only be one person._

_Was she dreaming? He couldn’t understand her. She suddenly cried out in pain and Jake was up like a shot. She’d rolled away from him and had her back facing him but he could still hear her mumbling._

_He stepped closer to try and hear her better._

_“Inca. Sun god. Sun. Twenty three degrees axial tilt. Sol Sistere. Summer Solstice. Summer. Sunshine. Oranges. Orange Juice. Breakfast. There’s trees and summer smells and stones. Stone—“ her sentence cut off and she hissed painfully. She pulled her legs to her chest and he watched her coil up underneath the sheets._

_Now he was worried. He rushed around to the other side of the bed and knelt beside of her. “What’s going on, darlin’? Clue me in here.”_

_“Music, science and math. Numbers and colors and smells. I can’t. There’s too much—no way back. It hurts,” she said with a sob. “No way back.”_

_Music, music. He glanced around the room for something that would relate to music, but he didn’t see anything. And then it hit him. He could hear the faint sounds of Peruvian Folk Music from the street below them. It was very faint but it was there. He followed the sound to the window that had been left cracked open He shut and locked the window and the silence filled the room. The only thing left to hear was Cassandra’s sobbing. He came back to her bed and knelt beside her again._

_“No way back,” she repeated. “Water. The current carries me out. I can’t breathe. I don’t know—which way is up—I can’t find it. Can’t find it.” She struggled to breathe and Jake felt every one of his muscles tense. He pulled the covers away and pried her arms away from her stomach so he could hold one of her hands and intertwine their fingers. He squeezed her hand with one of his and then used the other to tilt her face toward him. Her eyes were scared and wild as they searched his face without really focusing on him._

_If she needed a way back, he’d find her one. “You gotta find another memory, Cass. Any memory. Just pick one where you can breathe,” he said desperately as her breathing continued to sound labored. “Come on, sweetheart, breathe.”_

_“Stone,” she said finally as her blue eyes focused on his. “Cool stone under my skin. New air. Fresh air. Soft breeze. It smells like summer and I see columns. Old columns. And there’s a riddle. Dragons like riddles.” Her breathing became less shallow and he felt his chest slowly start to unclench. “Fibonacci.”_

_He smiled softly at her as he recognized the memory she chose. “Gesundheit.”_

_“Gold honey. Bees. I start to drift away. I think I’m lost and then…Stone.”_

_“Roman concrete, actually,” he said with a teasing grin. The fear in her eyes is fading and he’s thankful for that._

_“No,” she responded with a shake of her head. “ Stone_.”

_He realized then what she meant. She meant him. His stomach flipped and he could swear his heart stopped for a moment. He still had one hand wrapped tightly around hers and another cradling her face. She took a deep breath and her eyes never left his. “You pulled me back in. You always pull me back in.”_

_And now he felt like he couldn’t breathe. What was happening? He asked himself as his chest tightened and his heart started beating too fast. He traced his thumb across her cheek and searched her eyes for any signs of pain. “You okay? You got me really worried here, Cass.”_

_“I’m okay,” she said weakly before she took a deep breath and nodded. “Thank you, Jake.”_

_“Don’t mention it,” he said softly as he brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “Just glad you came back.” He reluctantly released her hand and began to stand up when her hand shot out and grasped his arm._

_“Wait, don’t,” she said in a panicked voice. “Could you…sit with me for a while? I don’t know that I want to be alone right now.”_

_Her hands were shaking and her voice was unsteady. She looked terrified at the idea of being left alone. The idea of him walking away nearly had her all riled up again. He smiled warmly at her and waved his free hand at her. “Shove over.”_

_She beamed at him and slid to the other side of the bed. He sat down next to her and their shoulders brushed. She looped her arm through his and he felt her rest her head on his shoulder._

_“Do you wanna talk about it?” he asked after a moment._

_She shook her head against his shoulder and twisted her hands together. “I just want to sit for a moment and enjoy this.”_

_Her quirked a brow at the top of her head and took one of her hands in his. She was squeezing her hands so tight that her knuckles were white. He laced his fingers through hers and then asked. “And what is ‘this’ exactly?”_

_She took a deep breath and then rested her other hand on top of their joined ones. “Peace. This feeling of…peace. I don’t have that a lot.”_

_“Me either, darln’. Me either.”_

_Sadness swept through him. Sadness for her. For her life so far. For himself. For the utter lack of time they had left. So much sadness that he found himself kissing the top of her head before he’d fully formed the thought to do so. He knew only one thing for sure when it came to Cassandra. He’d be there for her for as long as she needed him. No matter how long that was._

* * *

 

The Annex had expanded months ago to include a crash room for the L.I.T.s, where they could sleep whenever they had a late night. They’d yet to really use it, until now. Jake awoke to find himself sleeping uncomfortably in a chair. He looked up to find Flynn standing over him as he sat in the armchair next to Cassandra’s bed.

“Stone,” Flynn said quietly. “You’ve been here all night. Go take a break. I’ll sit with her. Did she wake up at all last night?”

He shook his head as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “I don’t think so, but, well, I wasn’t exactly awake the whole time.” He searched Cassandra’s face for any sign that she might wake up soon. He didn’t know what he was looking for but he supposed he’d know it when he saw it. “Thanks, Flynn, but I don’t think that I should—“

She hummed suddenly and turned on her side so that she was facing Jake. She sighed contentedly and whispered, “Summer. Oranges.” Before she stilled again and went back to her sound sleep. 

Jake grinned at her in amusement and then chuckled. “Breakfast. I get the hint, sweetheart.” He looked back at Flynn and then stood and stretched. That was as good a sign as any. “Alright, I think I’ll take you up on that break.”

“Oh, so I tell you to and you refuse but she mumbles something about oranges and suddenly you’re ready to go?” Flynn asked with a smirk. “Man, she has got you wrapped around her little finger.”

He turned his head to stare at Flynn in surprise. “No, she doesn’t.”

Flynn gave him a look that clearly said he wasn’t buying it, but he didn’t argue. “Ezekiel picked up breakfast for everyone. It’s in the lab.”

“The lab? The lab where we once did an autopsy on a magically enhanced wolf? _That_ lab?” Jake asked with a furrowed brow.

Flynn made a rubbery face for a moment. “Maybe tell Eve to move it into the kitchen when you get out there.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea,” Jake said with a shudder as he remembered pulling the girl out of that wolf. “Come and get me if—“

“Don’t worry. You’ll be the first one to know if she wakes up while you’re gone,” Flynn told him with a chuckle. “Go eat.” Flynn waved a hand at him dismissively and Jake reluctantly left the room. What was happening to him? Seriously, what was it about Cassie that he couldn’t seem to stay away from? What made him so drawn to her? From the very beginning he’d been the moth to her flame. Even when he tried to keep his distance he never seemed to be able to. She made the very idea of distance impossible for him to comprehend.

As Jake entered the main room Ezekiel ran past with a tray full of mugs.

“Finally came off of guard duty, I see,” Ezekiel said as he sat the tray down.

Jake ignored him. “Man, what did you put the food in the lab for? You do remember the kind of stuff Jenkins does in there, right?”

Ezekiel smirked. “Hey, we won’t be here as much from here on in. I gotta bug the old man when I can.”

Jake rolled his eyes at the younger man. “When you’re done pissin’ off Jenkins move the food into the kitchen, okay?”

He nodded. “That was always the plan, mate. Hot chocolate?” Ezekiel pointed to the tray and offered him a mug.

“You made hot chocolate?” Jake asked with an amused grin and a quirked brow.

He shrugged. “Its Cassandra’s favorite so I thought, you know, in case she wakes up sometime soon she might want some.”

Jake nodded and gave the younger man a small smile. He and Jones had their differences and he hated to admit it, but he had gotten attached to the kid over the last several months. And no matter what they disagreed on they always had one thing in common…

They both cared about Cassie. Maybe they cared in different ways, but they both truly cared about her well-being.

“She’ll like that,” Jake agreed as he reached for a mug. “She nearly woke up just before I left.”

“You think she’s gonna be okay?” Ezekiel asked worriedly.

Jake nodded after a long moment and answered him with a soft grin. “I think so. She’s proved herself to be stronger than we all thought before. Why should this time be any different?”

Jenkins walked through the room and looked thoroughly distracted. He’d been quiet since they’d returned with Cassandra last night. He acknowledged Jake and Ezekiel with a curt nod and then made his usual morning trek to his lab.

Ezekiel smirked at Jake and held up a single finger. “Wait for it.”

There was a single beat and then…

“JONES! This is a lab not an all you can eat buffet!”

Ezekiel chuckled. “Music to my ears.”

There were slow footsteps from the hall that led to the bedrooms. Jake and Ezekiel looked up to find Eve and Flynn leading Cassandra into the room. Both her arms were looped through Flynn’s and Eve was watching the red head like a hawk for any signs she wasn’t up for the walk. Jake was across the room in a split second.

“What are you doing up?” He asked as he approached. Flynn immediately handed Cassandra over to him and she gave both men a strange look as Jake looped her arm through his and led her to a chair.

“I’m fine,” she said as she sat down.

“Are you hungry?” Eve asked. “I bet you’re hungry. You know what, I’m gonna get you some food.”

Cassandra opened her mouth to respond but Eve was already gone. “O—okay, sure. Thank you.”

Ezekiel smirked after Baird as she left and then placed a mug of hot chocolate in Cassandra’s hands. “How ya doin’, kid?”

She grinned at him and chuckled. “You realize I’m older than you, don’t you?”

“Nothing but a number, babe,” Ezekiel said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes with a smile and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

“You sure you’re feeling okay?” Jake asked.

She looked around at all the people standing over her as she sat and then back at Jake with a warm smile. “I’m fine, really. Just a bit tired. You can all relax.”

“You were kidnapped by a spirit of pure magic, Cassandra,” Flynn said as he nudged her shoulder teasingly. “Relaxing is not in the cards.”

“And you took out Morgan le Fay like a badass,” Ezekiel added with a smirk. “Where’d you send her anyway?”

She pressed a hand to her temple and closed her eyes as she tried to remember. “I don’t even know. I just…I remember wanting her far away from all of you.” Her eyes drifted to Jake for a second before she looked back down at the mug in her hands.

“So, what happened, exactly?” Jake asked as he sat down in the chair next to hers.

She looked up at him and took a deep breath as she thought about what to say. “You know when Baird talks about crazy sentences she thought she’d never say?”

Jake gave her lopsided grin and nodded.

“Well, I’m about to say one I never thought _I’d_ say,” she told him. “The Lady of the Lake died and gave me her magic.”

The group blinked at her as Jenkins entered from the lab and Baird came in from the kitchen. Eve set down a plate in front of her and then took in the shocked faces around the room. “What did I miss?”

“The Lady of the Lake gave Cassandra all of her magic,” Flynn said with a casual shrug.

Baird’s eyes widened and when she spoke her voice was a full octave higher. “Oh, is that all?”

“No, that’s not all,” Cassandra said as she bit her bottom lip to keep from smiling too brightly.

Flynn gave her a knowing look and grinned. “Let me guess, having a being of raw magic bestow you with an insane amount of pure magic…healed the brain grape?”

Jenkins smiled slightly at Cassandra. “Of course, yet another reason Viviane was drawn to you. She knew she could save your life.”

Jake held his breath and waited for Cassandra to confirm or deny Flynn and Jenkins’s best guesses. They were intelligent men who knew much more about magic than he did, but he’d only get his hopes up if Cassandra did.

She smiled brightly and nodded at them. “I—I should probably get a CT Scan to be sure, but…yes I think so.” There was a moment where they all smiled at each other in relief and joy before Cassandra continued. “But she…she said there would be a cost.”

“Of course there is,” Jenkins said with a sigh. “There’s always a cost.”

The entire room deflated and Ezekiel asked aloud what they were all thinking.

“What sort of cost?”

“Well, nothing I’m not already used to,” she said as her hand drifted to her temple again. “Headaches, hallucinations, nosebleeds, seizures—“

Jake held back a sigh and shook his head at her. “Cassie, that’s all the same things you were goin’ through before. What’s the point if nothing changes?”

She reached over and placed one of her hands on top of his clenched ones. He was more worried about her now than he had been before. Magic was unknown. A tumor was medical. He could rationalize that, but _magic…_

“But something has changed, Jake,” she said with a bright smile. “A big _something_ has changed.”

“And what’s that?” He asked with a sigh as he looked down at their hands.

She gave his hands a comforting squeeze. “Time. I have _time_ , Jake. A whole lifetime of it.” He looked up at her then and met her gaze as she continued with a contented smile. “I can deal with everything else. I’ve been doing it my whole life. What I can’t accept is giving up people I care about and a life I love. I don’t have to do that now. That’s the _only thing_ that matters.”

She was right. He knew she was right. It was _the only thing_ that mattered. He returned her smile, albeit with a bit more trepidation than she had. The cost was worth it he knew, but he’d never enjoyed seeing her in pain and he always thought that one day they’d find a way and she’d be free of it all. But now—now she would deal with it for the rest of her life.

“Well,” Eve said with a smile as she knocked a beat out on the table. “I say this calls for a celebration! Who’s with me?”

There were cheers from Ezekiel and Flynn and Cassandra just beamed at them gratefully. These were her friends and family and she wouldn’t want to celebrate this with anyone else. A searing pain shot through her head and she winced. She ran a hand across her forehead and took deep breaths. Jake heard her wince and immediately held her hands tighter.

“Cassandra,” he said warily. “What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s fine. It’s fine,” she assured him as she closed her eyes. “Just a headache. It’ll pass.”

She gritted her teeth and squeezed Jake’s hands for comfort. The lights in the room flickered and Jake’s concerned gaze left Cassandra to glance around the room. No one else had noticed yet, except Jenkins. Jenkins was standing a few feet away from the two of them, watching them closely. The lights then surged brightly just moments before the light bulbs in the lamps at the end of the table exploded. Cassie gasped and then sighed in relief and sagged in her chair.

“Ow,” she said in a whine before she gulped and looked down the table at the lamp. She bit her bottom lip and gave Jake a nervous look.  “Did I do—Oh god, was that me?”

He grinned sheepishly at her and nodded. “I think so, darlin’.”

She grimaced and then gave him an awkward apologetic look. “Oops?”

Well, this was gonna make things interesting, Jake thought to himself as he watched Jenkins begin to sweep up the broken light bulbs as if this were an every day occurrence.

But, he supposed, that was life as a Librarian.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second episode can be found here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3416120/chapters/7481462  
> Thanks for reading!


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